Can Anyone Help with Some Ukrainian Rhymes? One is about Fish and Vegetables Dancing and the Other is about Riding a Horse
February 13th, 2013

Peter wrote asking for help with some Ukrainian rhymes.  Here’s his email:

I wonder if anyone can help me with some verses my father use to recite, all I have is some of the words, and the basic ideas behind the verses.

One involved fish and vegetables dancing:

Пастернак (Parsnip)

Риба (Fish)

The second involved a father sitting on a spade/shovel (Лопато), a mother sitting on something else (Kocубу?)…

There are commands to a horse in horse language to go left and right (that sounded like Hi-ta, viss-ta)…

And the last line:

їдемо до шлюбy (go off to get married)

Regards, Peter Kosylowicz

If anyone can help Peter with either of these verses, please let us know in the comments below.

Thanks!

Mama Lisa

This article was posted on Wednesday, February 13th, 2013 at 6:37 pm and is filed under Children's Songs, Countries & Cultures, Languages, Nursery Rhymes, Questions, Ukraine, Ukrainian, Ukrainian Children's Songs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

4 Responses to “Can Anyone Help with Some Ukrainian Rhymes? One is about Fish and Vegetables Dancing and the Other is about Riding a Horse”

  1. Hana Says:
    February 15th, 2013 at 7:45 am

    http://nashe.com.ua/song/14768

    Танцювала риба з раком (Fish with crayfish were dancing)

    Танцювала риба з раком,
    А петрушка з пастернаком, (parsley with parsnip)
    А цибуля з часником, (onion with garlic)
    А дівчина з козаком! ( A girl with a Cossack)
    Цибуля дивується, ( Onion wonders )
    Як хороше танцюється. ( what a good dance)

    Ходить гарбуз по городу –
    Питається свого роду:
    – Ой чи живі, чи здорові,
    Всі родичі гарбузові,
    Обізвалась жовта диня:
    – Ой я твоя господиня;
    Обізвались огірочки:
    – А ми твої сини й дочки!

    Обізвались буряки,
    Гарбузові свояки:
    – Усі живі і здорові,
    Всі родичі гарбузові!

    You can hear it there:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJoadlexfVg

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2s-BHjVrIpU

  2. Aqua Says:
    June 4th, 2013 at 3:30 pm

    The second one is a kolomyika, a humorous Ukrainian song. It has two lines only:

    Сідай, тату, на лопату, мамо, на коцюбу,
    Тато гейта, мама вішта, поїдем до шлюбу.

    Sit, Daddy, on the shovel,
    Mum – on the poker,
    Daddy – gee, Mamma – haw,
    Let’s go to the wedding.
    In Ukrainian folklore, poker is a very important object, for example, you could not throw it down, only to put it down. Also, witches are believed to use pokers to fly to the Bald mountain.

  3. Marysia Says:
    July 19th, 2013 at 3:49 am

    I need help with a Ukrainian rhyme that starts:

    Holo, bobo, dychka, prenychka

    and is played with toes, starting with the little one and ending with the big toe. The big toe is pulled off! (Lots of fun as I remember:))

    Also, not sure what it means?? Could just be gibberish…my great-aunt’s cat was called Bobo….

  4. Aqua Says:
    August 7th, 2013 at 5:01 am

    This kind of folklore is called “zabavlyanka” (entertaining song).
    They are sang to babies, to keep them amused and quiet.
    Yours goes like this:
    Bobyk, fasolk’a,
    Kukurudza, barabol’ka,
    A tse staruy bobushche,
    Furrrrrr za plotyshche.

    Бобик, фасолька,
    Кукурудза, бараболька,
    А це старий бобище,
    Фур-р-р за плотище.

    Little bean, little haricot
    Corn, little potato,
    And this is an old huge bean,
    Frrr, it goes over the fence.

    One by one, starting with the little finger, an adult massages the
    toes, every one got a name (little bean, little haricot and so on).
    When the adult comes to the big toe (huge old bean), they move it
    from side to side, an then sharply – aside and up, “throwing” it
    away, over the fence.

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